Just look at the headnote and consider the range of musical styles contained on these two discs. Then consider that Valletti sounds comfortable and at ease in all of them! This set is a remarkable testament (no pun intended) to the art of this great Italian tenor. Testament has reissued what RCA released from his 1959 and 1960 Town Hall recitals, along with a studio-made LP from 1958 of songs, all of it with the sensitive, knowing accompaniments of Leo Taubman. The result is a delightful two-disc set that anyone who cares about singing should own. Testament unfortunately could not deal with the copyright requirements involved in printing the texts (or translations), though they offer Internet guidance for finding them.

Valletti was, of course, one of the most intelligent and musical of Italian lyric tenors, but it is easy to forget just how beautiful his voice was as an instrument, even before he applied that intelligence to it. It may not have had the liquid sweetness of a Gigli or Schipa, but in its own right it contained a good balance of warmth, glow, and focus.

John Steane, in his invaluable book The Grand Tradition, notes that “Valletti was a pupil of Schipa, and no doubt learnt some of the graces of production and interpretation from the master . . . And whoever taught him the style and the repertoire, he does well in Schubert and Schumann, Fauré, and Debussy. His achievement in French song is doubly remarkable, perhaps unique, in that he is an Italian tenor . . . He is also an artist who changes tone and ‘face’ with sensitivity.”

Steane sums up Valletti’s uniqueness perfectly. I cannot think of another tenor who sounds so at home in so widely varied a repertoire (perhaps Gedda). Everything here is perfectly judged, comfortably sung, and communicative. The Hugo Wolf group is particularly gripping, and the one verismo aria, “Federico’s Lament” from L’arlesiana is the final encore from the 1959 Town Hall recital and rightly brings on a storm of applause. A particular gem is I pastori, a song by the too-rarely heard composer Ildebrando Pizzetti, who happened to be the tenor’s wife’s grandfather. I wish Valletti had recorded more of his music.

Testament provides its usual excellent notes and first-rate transfers of originals that were good in the first place. This is a fabulous set.